The Malta Independent 8 November 2024, Friday
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Speaker condemns protest that took place in Parliament during Budget speech, changes rules

Tuesday, 29 October 2024, 16:27 Last update: about 9 days ago

Speaker Anglu Farrugia has condemned the incident which took place in the strangers gallery of Parliament on Monday as Finance Minister Clyde Caruana was delivering his Budget speech.

The incident referred to was in relation to a group of protesters, including individuals from Moviment Graffiti, who began protesting inside Parliament as Caruana delivered his speech. The protesters dangled banners inside the Parliament chamber, shouted words of protest, and some also wore masks.

Farrugia said that a Parliament official confirmed that the protesting individuals in question had presented themselves as MCAST students when they requested access to the chamber.

The Speaker said that people surveying Parliamentary sessions in the chamber's gallery must remain quiet and show no sign of approval or disapproval at any point during the session. He continued that if these regulations are broken, then the offending individuals must be ordered to leave the chamber.

Farrugia stated that some Parliament officials were injured as a result of the protestors resisting, and he continued that it should absolutely never be the case that an official is injured, "even slightly".

As a consequence of this incident, the Speaker said that the chair is revising the rules for visitors to enter the chamber, and added that these measures will be introduced in order to keep Parliament safe. He referred to the regulations utilised by the United Kingdom's House of Commons as an example.

He said that any individual who wants to survey the session inside the chamber must register at the reception with an identification document and must leave their belongings at the reception, he continued that individuals who do not do this will not be allowed to enter the chamber.

Nationalist Party MP Robert Cutajar and government whip Naomi Cachia said that they are in solidarity with the chair on behalf of their respective parties.

Farrugia concluded that this is a prima facie case of breach of privilege, and without prejudice to any other action that can be taken by other authorities, is referring the case to the Privileges Committee of the Parliament so that it can determine if there is a case of violation of privilege. 

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